The Story of My Paper

I guess the idea the idea for my paper came from an Elder's Quorum discussion we had a few months ago on what it means to be a man. Later someone from our Elder's Quorum posted a video on the art of manliness on facebook:

The video talked about going back to the masculinity found in males of our grandparent's generation or becoming a retro-sexual. I found this very interesting and it was something I had thought about for awhile after our discussion. When thinking of ideas for my paper I noticed that made a lot of posts on Bond, my Grandpa, and Mad Men. I noticed that all of these post had a common theme. All of them were focused on a certain generation, particularly the period between the 50's and 60's. This brought me back to the video and discussion that left impressions on me a few months back.

The Final Final Draft

So I just wanted to post this final draft of my paper for your enjoyment and critique before I send it in to my professor, any feedback would be very appreciated.

Bond, James Bond: A Man For All Times

The world today has unique definitions of gender roles in society. Recently, there has been much discussion on topics such as gay marriage, the breakup of the family system, and the overall definition of what a man is in the 21^st century. Many of these issues can be traced back to the social movements and changes that happened during the 1960’s and onward. Because of the women’s rights movement many women today have equal opportunities in the workplace and have surpassed men in graduating college. These changes have brought a lot of benefits to our society because now the female voice has a say in many of the decisions that go on at home, at the workplace, and in the world. However, while women have risen to new prominence in their roles today, men have diminished in theirs. Men today are more self-centered, less masculine, and have lost their sense of responsibility. Men of our grandparent’s generation were dependable, took action, and they defined what it is to be manly. Popular characters of their generation like James Bond personified this idea of the alpha male and masculine traits. Actually, Bond was so masculine and direct in his demeanor that when the Bond novels first came out they were considered edgy by many and even downright misogynistic by some. Still, today he remains the man that men want to be, and the man that women want to be with. Although James Bond is a flawed and sometimes overtly sexist character, he does represent a kind of masculinity that men in our society desperately need right now.

Thesis of Bond's generation and our generation.

This post will be dedicated to five different thesis statements based on the content and the claims I made in one of  my earlier blog posts. It would be helpful to review that blog post before reading this as it references some of the background information used to come up with my thesis statements and it connects them to the Bond novels. The purpose of posting these thesis statements is to help me prepare for writing a paper for my Literature Interpretation class. So feedback would be much appreciated.

Grandpa's generation vs. Our's

James Bond, the quintessential 60's man

As I have reflected over my readings of the James Bond novels and my blog posts one of the biggest things I have noticed is the difference between my generation and his. James Bond novels were written in the 50's and 60's, and the movies have been released continually since 1962. Reading a novel from this era is like stepping into a completely different world, one that is run by men. The only women mentioned are secretaries and the girls that Bond seduces. Most often the women are damsel in distress like figures. Bond is the man in charge always and he always gets the job done without much help from his female sidekicks. Even minor characters give their say about the importance of male dominance in society throughout the novels.

"Do not go gentle"

I loved reading this poem. It was one of our common readings for our Literary class and I found it to be very thought provoking about life and death. After analyzing it and marking where it rhymed and repeated it certain places I found deeper meaning in it. I noticed that it repeated itself many times throughout the poem which I underlined in the above example. This gives the poem an echo effect, almost like those who have gone before had spoken and we are receiving their messages.  For me this adds to the theme of the poem being about death and the fight we should give before it. Also I noticed at the end that the poem was directed to the speaker's father who is dying. This gives a personal touch to the poem as the speaker is asking his own father to "not go gently". He is asking him to keep fighting it till the end. He wants him to be one of those wise, good, or wild men. He wants his father to prove himself before going into that good night. Reading this reminded me of when my grandfather died. My family and I had seen my grandfather go from a strong, healthy man to someone crippled by the effects of cancer. We loved grandpa and we begged him to keep fighting till the end. And he did.

The Things I Carry

In The Things They Carried we learn about the characters by what they carried with them. We learn about Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and his definitions of love through the letters he gets from Martha. Kiowa carried an illustrated New Testament book because of his beliefs. Lavender carried so much that when he died he fell straight to the ground. I believe this story shows that often times what we carry defines us. All of the characters had unique personalities and they carried with them unique items. As I read this story and the other assigned readings which took me a little over an hour and a half I thought of what I carry in my life. What defines me?

After last general conference I decided to heed the counsel given and keep my mission tag where I could see it. For me this represents the commitment I made over two years ago and the commitment I continue to make with God to serve Him.